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☆ Retailers jacked up prices and squeezed consumers. They might have just blinked
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Parija Bhatnagar | Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“There’s just less dollars for consumers to spend.”The challenge for retailers now is to shake consumers out of that frugal mindset. Retail spending has increased in seven of the past 10 months through March. “If you want to convince consumers to spend you have to give them a reason to do so. Lower prices are a clear opportunity to drive people into the store or online.”It’s a lever that Walmart, he said, has pulled forever. Clothing chain H&M told analysts during its most recent earnings call that it, too, would lower prices.

Persons: Sarah Wyeth, ”, Chad Lusk, Alvarez, ” Wyeth, “ There’s, they’re, Zak Stambor, Stambor, Joe Raedle, ” Stambor, “, ” Jesper Brodin, ” Brodin, ” Michaels, ” Ashley Buchanan, Michaels, Lars Daniel Ervér, Frida, Chuck, – CNN’s Bryan Mena Organizations: New, New York CNN —, Ikea, Shoppers, “ Retailers, CNN, Walmart, Ingka, “, Cheese, Stambor Locations: New York, Hallandale Beach , Florida

☆ IKEA sticks with China despite slowing economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Helen Reid | Thomson Reuters | London-Based Reporter Covering The European Retail Sector Through A Global Lens. Focusing On Companies Including Adidas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Yves Herman Acquire Licensing RightsMALMÖ, Sweden, Oct 12 (Reuters) - China is still a key growth market for budget furniture retailer IKEA despite the world's second-largest economy showing signs of strain, executives at the biggest IKEA store owner said on Thursday. The company has 37 IKEA stores in China, out of a total of 537 locations worldwide. Ingka Group overall saw 697 million visits to its IKEA stores in the 2023 financial year, up 7.4% from the previous year. The rate of increase was much higher in China, Brodin said, as stores reopened and shoppers returned. China's sheer size makes it a key opportunity, said Tolga Oncu, head of IKEA Retail at Ingka Group.

Persons: Yves Herman Acquire, Jesper Brodin, Brodin, Ingka, Tolga Oncu, Oncu, Helen Reid, Josie Kao Organizations: REUTERS, IKEA, Ingka Group, Ingka, Reuters, IKEA Retail, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Belgium, Sweden, China

☆ Ikea left Russia — but yet another copycat has popped up in its place. The real store says it could take action.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Kylie Kirschner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Good Luck, an Ikea copycat, joins the ranks of rebranded dupes of many western chains in Russia. And now, a store called Good Luck has opened in Moscow as an Ikea copycat. "The departure of Ikea is not a reason to abandon the usual interior design," Good Luck writes on its website. There are no suppliers for bathroom and kitchen items yet, employees at the store told the Moscow Times. Vlad Karkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesConvincing Ikea dupe or not, Good Luck already has ambitious plans for expansion, it says.

Persons: Vladimir Putin's, McD's, Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr, —, it's, Good Luck, couldn't, McDonald's, ALEXANDER NEMENOV, Luck, Vlad Karkov Organizations: Ikea, Moscow Times, Service, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried, McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks, Getty, Swed, IKEA Locations: Russia, Wall, Silicon, Kentucky, Moscow, McDonalds, Zara, Ukraine, Swedish, Russian, Belarusian, AFP, Soviet

☆ With home improvement projects down, it’s Ikea’s moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Over the next three years, it plans to open eight large stores and nine smaller “plan and order points,” where customers can chat with design consultants and order products. “We see endless opportunities to grow” in the US, Tolga Öncü, head of Ikea Retail for the Ingka Group, Ikea’s Dutch holding company, said in a statement at the time. After splurging on home improvement projects during the pandemic, consumers are pulling back. Home improvement retailer Lowe’s lowered its profit and sales outlook for the year in May, saying consumers were spending less on home improvement. Ikea, which is not publicly traded, reported that its retail sales rose by 6.5% in fiscal year 2022, but didn’t post quarterly results.

Persons: ”, Michael Brown, Spencer Platt, Tolga Öncü, Karl Zimmermann, “, Sucharita Kodali, Forrester, “ they’re, Zimmermann, Paul Bersebach, Marisa Ortega, splurging, Ethan Allen, ” Ortega, —, Anna Cooban, David Goldman, Nathaniel Meyersohn, Parija Kavilanz Organizations: New, New York CNN, Ikea, Ikea Retail, Ingka, Bain, MediaNews, Orange, Register Locations: New York, Aldi, Long Beach , California

☆ Ikea is spending over $2 billion to open 8 new US stores, with an eye on locations in the South, plus 9 design centers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The furniture retailer will open eight new stores and nine smaller locations over three years. Ikea's expansion comes as other big-box retailers are cutting jobs or closing stores. The Swedish furniture retailer announced plans to open eight new stores and nine new "plan-and-order points," smaller locations where customers can design kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms and select furnishings. Ikea will also upgrade its existing US stores and add 900 customer pick-up locations nationwide as part of a three-year plan. The investment comes at a time when other big-box retailers, including Bed Bath & Beyond and Walmart, are closing locations across the country.

☆ Ikea stores coming soon to 8 new locations in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Ikea plan and order points are aimed at customers who want to speak with a consultant on how to design their homes, as well as place orders. Tolga Öncü, head of Ikea Retail, said the company saw “endless opportunities to grow” in the United States. Ingka also said it planned to use part of its bumper investment to modernize its existing US Ikea stores to enable them to send out more parcels. Ingka Group reported sales of €5.5 billion ($6 billion) in the United States in the last financial year, which ended in August 2022. It took €5.7 billion ($6.2 billion) in sales in Germany over the same period.

☆ IKEA plans new U.S. stores in $2.2 bln push to challenge Walmart and Wayfair
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Helen Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The company's logo is seen outside of an IKEA Group store in Saint-Herblain near Nantes, France, March 22, 2021. Ingka plans to open eight new big IKEA stores and nine smaller stores as well as upgrading existing stores in the U.S., which is IKEA's second-biggest market by sales after Germany, the company said on Thursday. As consumers spend less, big-box retailers Walmart and online furniture retailer Wayfair are cutting jobs and shutting stores, creating an opportunity for IKEA to pick up cheaper store and warehouse space. The planned stores would increase the number of IKEA locations in the U.S. by around a third, from 51 stores and two "plan and order points". Ingka Group had revenues of 5.5 billion euros ($6.03 billion) in the U.S. in its 2022 financial year.

☆ Top brands pull out of Russia, but their goods remain easy to find
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Alexander Marrow | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Brands' continued availability shows the challenge companies face in controlling supply chains when exiting a market. Market leader Wildberries sells old stock from Inditex brands and has almost 17,000 goods in its Zara catalogue. Informal supply routes could lead to more poor-quality goods entering Russia, however, as regulators lose oversight, Ben Tzion said. IKEA brand owner Inter IKEA Group said it sold remaining stock for an undisclosed amount to Yandex as it down-scaled IKEA Retail Russia. IKEA said it was looking into goods being advertised as similar to IKEA online.

"We have managed to replace those (Russia and Belarus) volumes in other countries on a very hot wood market," Ulf Johansson, Global Wood Supply and Forestry Manager at brand owner Inter IKEA, told Reuters. Russia and Belarus were IKEA's fifth and sixth biggest wood suppliers before the war, accounting for 6% and 5% respectively of its supplies, the company's website said. Poland, followed by Lithuania and Sweden were the three biggest suppliers in the 12 months through August 2022. IKEA stores in Russia have been closed since March, while IKEA owned shopping malls remain open. IKEA has in recent years been buying and managing forests in a number of countries through its investment vehicle IKEA Investments, from which it might use wood and wood products in the future.

☆ IKEA offers cash, larger discounts to help staff weather soaring living costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, Nov 10 (Reuters) - IKEA retailer Ingka Group is launching a 10 million euro ($10 million) social fund and bigger staff discounts to support employees struggling to cope with higher living costs. A group spokesperson said the fund would be available in all Ingka's 31 markets, and the money would not be a loan. "We want to be able to support co-workers through this time, while balancing the needs of our business, always guided by our values." The Ingka spokesperson said it was difficult to say at this point how many would seek help from the fund. "This extra support is meant to support co-workers faced with unforeseen costs they couldn’t possibly have planned for."

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